Current status
This rove beetle occurs only within fine, damp sand on the margins of large freshwater bodies from the water`s edge to about 2 metres up the beach. It is a boreal relict, with a widespread but very localised distribution across northern Europe, stretching eastwards to the Caspian Sea and north to Finland. The European range is highly fragmented and the species is threatened over much of this. Within the UK, the beetle has been reliably recorded from only one small area on the north west corner of Lough Neagh in Northern Ireland. Former sites may have been affected by a lowering of the water table of the Lough in the 1950s.
The species is considered to be nationally and globally threatened, and of equivalent status to endangered within the GB Red List.
Current factors causing loss or decline
Trampling by cattle and humans.
Sand extraction from the rear of the beach, from the beach itself and from the adjacent bed of Lough Neagh.
Current action
The site is within Lough Neagh ASSI.
Action plan objectives and targets
Ensure that the known population is maintained through appropriate site protection and management.
Maintain any other extant populations around Lough Neagh.
Proposed actions with lead agencies
Policy and legislation
No action proposed.
Site safeguard and management
Ensure that the management statement for the Lough Neagh ASSI takes the needs of the beetle into account. (ACTION: DoE(NI))
Control the numbers of grazing animals on the beach. (ACTION: DoE(NI))
Ensure that sand extraction at Lough Neagh does not threaten the habitat of the beetle. (ACTION: DoE(NI))
Species management and protection
Consider scheduling the species within the Wildlife (Northern Ireland) Order 1985. (ACTION: DoE(NI))
Advisory
Provide advice on land management to all those who own or manage land adjoining the site. (ACTION: DoE(NI))
Future Research and Monitoring
Carry out further surveys to determine whether the beetle occurs elsewhere on Lough Neagh by 1998. (ACTION: DoE(NI))
Investigate the environmental factors which are beneficial to the beetle. (ACTION: DoE(NI))
Pass information gathered during survey and monitoring of this species to JNCC or BRC so that it can be incorporated in national databases. (ACTION: DoE(NI))
Provide information annually to the World Conservation Monitoring Centre on the UK status of the species to contribute to maintenance of an up-to-date global red lists. (ACTION: JNCC)
Communications and Publicity
No action proposed.
Links with other action plans
None given.
Publication details
Originally published in: Biodiversity: The UK Steering Group Report - Volume II: Action Plans (December 1995, Tranche 1, Vol 2, p153)